Dodgers Make Changes In International Scouting Department

The Los Angeles Dodgers made headlines Monday night as they made an announcement regarding the international part of their scouting department. The team announced they parted ways with a significant amount of members from the department.

The biggest name that was let go happened to be the vice president of the department, Bob Engle. The Dodgers hired Engle in 2012 after he had been working in the Seattle Mariners’ organization previously for eight years.

Some other international names involved in the departure are Patrick Guerrero, the Dodgers’ scouting coordinator in Latin America and Franklin Taveras, the club’s scouting director in the Dominican Republic.

Guerrero made a public comment about his release on Monday, stating that he spoke with the front office of the Dodgers and he understood their decision. According to Jesse Sanchez and Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, Guerrero claimed that this is baseball and a part of the process:

The only explanation I got was that they wanted to go in a different direction and nothing else. I understand. That’s baseball.”

The Dodgers also have let go of Joseph Reaves, the director of international and Minor League relations. Reaves was added to the front office staff in 2007 after being a longtime sportswriter in the Arizona community.

The last names to be mentioned in the release are Rafael Colon, the special advisor for international performance; Hidenori Sueyoshi, senior manager of international scouting; and Bruce Hurst, the Latin America field coordinator. Sueyoshi and Colon were hired prior to the 2013 season and Hurst was signed in March of 2015.